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Kathmandu, Nov 21: The Department of Passports says it is exploring temporary arrangements to ease the ongoing shortage and expects the problem to be resolved within two weeks. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri says distribution has been reduced because of supply disruptions and adds that the situation should return to normal soon.

Officials say Nepal is preparing to seek passports again from Idemia, the French firm whose contract was already cancelled. Idemia supplied passports to Nepal for 15 years, but its agreement expired last year. The new contract for printing electronic passports was awarded to a German company. That company, however, can only begin delivery from the second week of February, which has led the government to look for a fallback supplier until regular production starts.

The department says Idemia can begin supplying passports immediately since it has long experience printing Nepali passports. The delay now is tied to pricing. Idemia has quoted 15.51 US dollars per passport, a rate the government has not accepted. The same company had earlier supplied passports at 10.13 dollars each, and some officials believe Idemia is trying to take advantage of Nepal’s urgent situation by pushing for a higher price.

The Foreign Ministry has also urged the German company to speed up its delivery schedule. Prime Minister Sushila Karki, who currently oversees the ministry, has discussed the issue with the German ambassador. The ministry says she requested early supply because Nepal is facing a shortage and cannot wait until mid February for the regular shipment to begin.

If none of the options work in time, the department is considering printing machine readable passports again as a short term measure. Nepal discontinued MRP passports and began issuing electronic passports in December 2022, but officials say older technology may still serve as a temporary bridge until new supplies arrive.

People’s News Monitoring Service